Heading into a week of budget talks on Capitol Hill, members of Maine’s congressional delegation say President Barack Obama’s proposal would place U.S. taxpayers in too much future debt.

“The deficit is enormous under this budget,” said Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe. “Even if we set the budget on autopilot, you’d have a lower deficit (than Obama’s proposal).”

The president’s plan would create a deficit of $9.3 trillion over the next 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Though it is never signed into law, the budget resolution provides a spending blueprint for congressional appropriations and sets policy and tax priorities.

Obama’s budget borrows too much, said Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican. “It doubles the amount of public debt in five years’ time. It also relies too much on tax increases, including on small businesses, which are really struggling.”

Rep. Mike Michaud, a Democrat representing Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, said he didn’t want to pass anything that would hurt Maine businesses.

“The bottom line is, we have to start passing a responsible budget that will put this country back on track for economic recovery,” he said. “There hasn’t been any fiscal constraint and that’s why we’re in the situation we’re in today, with 47 percent of our debt owned by foreigners.”

U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree of Maine’s 1st Congressional District, said everyone should be worried about the deficit, but that the president’s budget reflects what people want most: middle-class tax cuts and increased spending on education and health care.

“This is a disastrous economy,” Pingree said. “It’s very important to the state of Maine that things move forward.”

Collins and Snowe also said they were upset at the prospect of Republicans getting shut out of the policy-making process regarding health care and climate change.

Democrats have floated the possibility of implementing a procedural maneuver known as “reconciliation,” which would allow them to circumvent the Senate filibuster process and require a simple majority vote of 51, rather than the 60 needed to overcome a filibuster. There are currently 58 Senate Democrats.

“Reconciliation would limit debate on major policy changes and that’s not what it is for,” Collins said. Traditionally, the procedure has been implemented only to lower the deficit, not to develop policy.

“If they are going to negotiate among themselves health care and climate-control policies, that would be very disturbing to me,” said Snowe, who serves on the committee of oversight for Medicaid and Medicare and has spent years developing climate-change policy. “If they use the budget for that purpose, that would be unacceptable.”

Michaud said he would be disappointed if Democratic leadership decided to “cram their proposal down.”

“Even part of the Democratic caucus won’t be heard if that’s the case,” said Michaud, a member of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog caucus. “I’ve always found that anytime you work together in a bipartisan manner, you get a better product.”

Republicans should get a chance to contribute, but if they merely act as obstructionists, Pingree said Democrats should use any means necessary to pass the legislation.

“You can’t let politics as usual get in the way,” she said. “The public wants us to work together in a bipartisan manner, but they want us to get things done.”

The House and Senate have scheduled final votes for the end of the week, following what is expected to be several days of fierce debate.